Improved method of arranging and operating submerged horizontal paddle-wheels



NITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

PETER LEAR, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED METHOD 0F ARRANGING AND OPERATING SUBMERGED HORIZONTAL PADDLE-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,460, dated February 27, 1855.

To all whom4 it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETERr LEAR, of Bosion, in the county of Suffolk and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Method of Arranging and Operating Submerged Horizontal Paddle-Wheels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the anneXed drawings, in which-- Figure l is an elevation of the hull of a vessel with my improvement attached; Fig. 2, a view of the Same from beneath; Fig. 3, a horizontal section and Fig. t a transverse vertical section, both taken through the wheels.

In paddle-wheels of this description the water is thrown oif centrifugally from the case in which the wheels revolve, and a partial vacuum is thus produced within the.

wheel-case, which is constantly supplied by water entering the case with the buckets. The labor of drawing in this water is thus thrown upon the buckets. The imposition of this labor upon the wheel greatly retards its motion. To relieve the wheel of this labor and to supply the center of the wheel With air or water in such manner that the bucketsy themselves may not be retarded by the effort to draw it in from the circumference is the object of my invention; and my invention consists in opening a passage into or near the center of the Wheel-case for the admission of either air or Water lo supply the place of that which is thrown off centrifugally, by which means the labor of drawing in the water from the circumference isV taken off the buckets and the effective action of the wheel is greatly increased.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the accompanying drawings, A is the hull .of the vessel.

B are horizontal submerged paddle-wheels consisting of rectangular iioats a, attached to the hub b, which is secured upon a vertical shaft c. These wheels are placed in a Vsuitably-formed chamber or case in the run of the vessel, and are allowed to project sufficiently into the water to insure their most advantageous operation. No portion, how ever, of the wheel-chamber projects beyond the side of the vessel; but immediately in advance of the wheel I place the detlector G, which forms a continuation of the midshipsection of the hull, the object of which is to cause the water which leaves the wheel tangentially'to be thrown in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vessel, land not perpendicular thereto.

I will now describe the improvement which I have added to a paddle-wheel thus arranged. P, Fig. l, is a pipe which ent-ers the top of the Wh eel-chamber and rises above the load-water line. This pipe may terminate either Within thehold of the vessel or otherwise. It is evident that as the Wheel is revolved rapidly and thewater is thrown centrifugally from its cir-` cumference the suction at the center is prevented by the air entering through the pipe P, and the buckets are relieved of the labor of drawing in Water, as before mentioned. A similar effect Will be produced, though in a modified degree, if the pipe P be caused to enter the water either above or below the paddle-wheel, in which case water instead of air Will be drawn in; but in every case the pipe must be made to enter the wheel-chamber at or near its center. If the pipe P be made to terminate in the hold of the vessel, the latter may thereby be ventilated. This forms, however, no part of my present invention, but is an auxiliary advantage resulting therefrom.

I do not claim pumping air into the Wheelhouse of a horizontal or other paddle-wheel; but

' What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The pipe P, arranged in connection with the wheel-chamber in the manner described, and for the purpose set forth.

v PETER LEAR. Witnesses:

H. B. OSGooD, JOHN S. GLOW. 

